Thursday, July 4, 2013

transcend the old ideological divisions and reject the “false choice” between liberal and conservative

What is going on? Is the Court liberal or conservative?

None of the above. The theme of last week’s cases was captured by President Obama’s reaction to the same-sex marriage rulings: “We are all equal under the law.” If we’re all equal, then we shouldn’t be judged by skin color or sexual orientation, and the machinery of democracy shouldn’t be gummed up by outdated racial classifications.

“To understand this brave new Court, you have to know that it doesn’t rule in a vacuum but rather on the laws and government actions that come before it.”

In other words, the Supreme Court is increasingly embracing the Constitution’s structural and rights-based protections for individual freedom and self-governance. Not in every case, not always with one voice, and not without fits and starts, but as a whole the justices are moving in a libertarian direction.